Doomtree

Doomtree; 2008

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From to Crooked I's Block Obama mixtape (the title is not meant to be taken literally) to Ludacris' soliciting the Democrat nominee for "a special pardon if I'm ever in the slammer," among many other examples, rap is politically motivated right now in ways rock isn't. (Daughtry, on the other hand, is playing a Foreigner song at both conventions.) And so, with the Republican National Convention on their home turf, Minneapolis collective Doomtree's eponymous debut is well timed if nothing else. Doomtree are about as politically correct as any hip-hop collective: Rolling as deep as the Supreme Court, they're multiracial, multigender, they flow in Spanish sometimes, and a guest emcee called I Self Devine even has a line about mock duck. Though they don't trash talk specific politicians much (as crew member P.O.S. said on his 2006 Rhymesayers' effort Audition: "First of all/ Fuck Bush/ That's all/ That's the end of it") the group is hellbent on venting their frustrations with corporations and the wealthy.

And yet, even folks without 18 leftie bumper stickers on their cars will find it hard not to get caught up in the group's enthusiasm. Mostly forsaking the punk of Audition, Doomtree's beat-makers, led by Lazerbeak and Turbo Nemesis, are focused on updating golden-era structures to get the listener hyped-- particularly, "Drumsticks", "Game Over", and "Liver Let Die". At the same time, the production is nimble enough to pull back when it needs to, such as on the jazzy "Last Call", which recalls the narrative, working-class moments of Atmosphere's latest, touching on everything from lesbianism to pool sharkdom to alcoholism to waitressing.

But like many liberal firebrands, Doomtree don't spend much time with anecdotal narrative, quickly returning instead to class warfare and conspiracy theories: "I sense a set-up through the bent antennae settling/ Federally approved amphetamines Ephedra peddling," claims Sims in one example. If you're a ninth-grader living in St. Paul, Doomtree will be your shit, but when the politics here turn preachy, you'd be forgiven for wanting a bit more balance between the two.